"Axe" Library's 30th Anniversary to be Celebrated

On November 18, Axe Library will celebrate its 30th anniversary. Although Pittsburg State University has had a library since its birth in 1903 as the Manual Training Normal School, it did not have a building until Porter Library opened in 1927. (Porter Hall now houses the Art Department.) In 1979, the library moved into the present building which was named after Leonard Henry Axe, our college President from 1957 to 1965.

The celebration will take place in the browsing area of Axe Library. Mr. Bob Walter, Dean of Learning Resources will be the Master of Ceremonies and Mr. Randy Roberts, Curator of Special Collections, and Mrs. Cynthia Pfannenstiel, recently retired Coordinator of Public Services, will give us some historical background. Music will be provided by the PSU Brass Quintet, under the direction of Bob Kehle, who also played at the opening in 1979.

Our guest speaker will be Suzanne Arruda, successful author of the Jade del Cameron series of mystery/adventures. She will speak about her series and about how the library helped her reconstruct life in 1920s East Africa. Refreshments will be served. The anniversary celebration is sponsored by Friends of Axe Library.

Three from Osage Street

Three poets from Girard, Kansas look back to their childhoods, bringing them to life in a volume about growing up in 1950s Southeast Kansas

On October 1st we are very proud to present a reading by three poets who grew up on Osage St. in Girard, KS. After high school, they moved away and traveled the United States - and sometimes the world - pursuing very successful careers in museum management, education and music before making homes for themselves in Indianapolis, IN, Wayne, PA and Brooklyn, NY. They retired and devoted themselves to writing until they bumped into each other at the 50th GHS high-school graduation reunion of the class of ’56. The result of this meeting is the aforementioned volume of poetry written by Thomas Lisenbee (Red Hook, Brooklyn), a retired professional trumpet player and graduate of Kansas State Teachers College, Kay Z. Myers (Wayne, PA), a retired teacher of literature and creative writing, and Bret Waller (Indianapolis, IN), a retired director of the Indianapolis Museum of Art and several other distinguished museums throughout the United States. Their reading will be on Thursday, October 1st at 7 PM in the Special Collections Department of Axe Library. Refreshments will be served.

Each author has a separate poetry section in the book which includes some family photographs. What I noticed about these poems right away is that they describe childhoods no different from a childhood anywhere in the United States. I grew up in New York, not far from the big city (only 90 miles from where Thomas Lisenbee lives now) and I remember with affection catching fireflies, toads and polliwogs, laying on the lawn and picking out constellations or hanging out at the local movie theater with my smart aleck friends.

When Thomas Lisenbee, our first poet, moved to Red Hook, Brooklyn in 1984, he noticed this about his very citified neighborhood:

...the day I turned onto Van Brunt Street to go take a first look at the house I would later buy, I was struck by how like Girard ...[Red Hook]...was. My god, no traffic lights and there were utility poles strung with all sorts of wires. Wouldn’t you know it, my house had to be on Pioneer Street where, yes, people all seem to know each other, or know to act like it anyway.…Home, after all, is only another way of saying Osage Street.

Lisenbees’s poems mainly touch on the joys of being a boy in Girard: 4th of July firecrackers, the Cozy Theater, church softball leagues and that staple of small town life, the summer band concert. He also expresses the wish to pass the joys of small town life to his children and grandchildren in poems like Campin’ Out. But life in small town Girard had its dangers. In his poem IT, he describes how he nearly drowned in Farlington Lake because he was so desperate to keep up with his physically stronger friends. In his poem Reunion, he describes the sadness he feels at going to a high school reunion where the attendees are so old that eleven of the students are dead, twenty are “missing in action”, and there are no surviving teachers present. His wife rebukes him for not having enough signatures in his souvenir book, but he knows that there aren’t enough survivors. Of course we readers know that this reunion gives birth to the volume of poetry we are reading.

Kay Myers' poems describe her family's tragedies, as well its prosperities and joys. In Judy's Death, her aunt's only child, Judy, who was like a big sister to Myers, dies when just a young teenager. In the three poems Beyond Control, Trees, and Touching Old Scars, we learn about the desperately troubled special-needs child adopted by her family. Zettl's Bakery and The Baker introduce Myer's grandfather, a gregarious, hardworking immigrant who started a chain of small bakeries in Girard, Pittsburg, and Fort Scott—only to lose them when larger competitors could afford the new television advertisement that he couldn't. The Seamstress features Myers' mother, who lost her long battle with cancer at age 58. A loving person and world-class sewer, her mother teaches Myers that craft, though Kay confesses, "Yet always my true passion was/ for sowing words, symbols, and meanings." The Seamstress concludes with Myers passing her mother's sewing skills on to one of her own daughters, whose "passion for/ sewing seems to connect the generations." We're left to decide, however, whether Myers refers to sewing or to writing (or to both) in her conclusion: "It is no little gift: this stitching together/ past, present, and future—/this modeling immortality." Farlington Lake, which portrays a fishing trip with Myers' father, is a more peaceful visit to that neighboring water than Lisenbee's swim. That poem also switches into present time at its conclusion, a technique Myers uses in several other poems, to emphasize the connections of "past, present, and future."

Both Lisenbee and Myers talk about the beauty and smell of catalpa trees, but Waller gives them a whole poem (North Osage). Waller and his buddies tried to use the bean pods for swords in their King Arthur fantasies. They even tried to smoke them, as some kids do with corn silk. Waller describes the tree year round, ending the poem with one of those Kansas ice storms from Hell, during which “like rifle shots/catalpa branches snapped,/came crashing down,/littering snowpacked streets/with crystal shards/ that melted the next day.” Waller’s poems can be very funny, as he describes how phony Superman’s cape looked in a Friday night movie serial (Friday Evening Serials), or his inglorious career as a linebacker (Championship Season, 1953) the high point of which was a single interception. The event is reported in the local paper, where he is listed as an “unidentified player”. He’s especially funny when he describes some fast footwork he performed to outwit a grouchy police officer who caught him skinny dipping (Nightswim).

For nostalgia (Lisenbee), poignancy (Myers), and humor (Waller) come to Axe Library’s Special Collections Department at 7PM on October 1, 2009, and bring your hankies. We’ll have a great evening.

12th Annual DeGruson Lecture features the music of Carson Robison

Mr. John Kendrick, Lecturer, Musician, Scholar and Recent Graduate of PSU With a Masters in Communication; and Mr. Alva McNeely, Talented Singer and Player of the Fiddle, Mandolin and Guitar, Will Teach Us about the Amazing Career of Carson Robinson.

One of the favorite topics of research in our Special Collections Department has always been the life and music of Carson Robison, a very talented singer, songwriter and disc jockey from Oswego, KS. People from all over the United States, as well as England, Australia, the Scandinavian countries; just about anywhere there is an interest in square dancing or Western American music, write to us via e-mail, regular mail and instant messaging asking us about him and our collection of his sheet music and recordings. Carson was also a talented writer of patriotic music during World War II, prompting many members of the “Greatest Generation” to enquire about him when they want to organize a reunion and need to track down their regimental theme song. Carson is famous for composing “Little Green Valley,” in 1928, and 1948’s “Life Gets Tee-Jus, Don’t It?” In all, he wrote more than 300 songs before his death in 1957 at the age of 66.

Well, on October 8, 2009. at 7PM in the Special Collections Department, the Friends of Axe will present the lecture and performance Cowboy Heaven: What’s the Music Like There? (And Who’s Playing It?): Carson Robison and his Influence on Modern Country and Western Music. Refreshments will be served.

For more information, call Jane Victor, at 620-235-4886 or e-mail her at victor@pittstate.edu .

Friends of Axe Library Wins Internationalization Grant

The International Academic Affairs Committee has awarded an internationalization grant to the Friends of the Leonard H. Axe Library. The purpose of the grant is to purchase films in French, Spanish and other languages to support instruction as well as to provide opportunities to study international films and the cultural differences (and surprising similarities) exhibited in them.

The film list was put together with the help of Dr. Miriam Krepps, Dr. Bert Patrick, Dr. Steven Harmon and other faculty. There are older classics such as the venerable adventure film La Salaire de la Peur (The Wages of Fear), or Simon del Desierto (Simon of the Desert) , one of the famous Luis Buñuel’s Mexican films. There are history based dramas such as Le Retour de Martin Guerre (The Return of Martin Guerre), about a notorious case of fraud in Renaissance France, or Vatel (the only English film) about the famed 17th century French chef, butler and Master of Festivities, François Vatel. Some films are dramatizations of renowned classics, such as El Sur and Emma Zunz, both based on stories by Jorge Luis Borges. The recent Mexican Renaissance in film is represented with modern classics such as Como Agua Para Chocolate (Like Water for Chocolate), a romantic adventure/comedy about the surreal culinary creations of a lovelorn cook, or Solo Con Tu Pareja (Only With Your Partner) an inspired comedy by the famous Cuarón brothers. There is an African documentary, Afrique, Je te Plumerai (Africa, I Will Fleece You), an indictment of the devastations of colonialism in Cameroon. We have some of the films and are catalogingthem. So, the rest should be up on display and ready for viewing very shortly. A complete list of all other films purchased follows.


French

8 Femmes – Eight women snowbound in a house with the corpse of a man each one of them had a reason to kill.

Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme- Moliere’s classic about the foibles of a “nouveau riche”.

Camille Claudel – Brilliant career and sad life of French sculptor.

Chocolat – In French and English. A French chocolatier prepares concoctions which inspire the passions of the villagers of a conservative French town.

Cyrano de Bergerac - Rostand’s great play brought to the screen.

Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain – Young girl uses bizarre, quasi magical techniques to improve the lives of her friends and family.

The Gerard Depardieu Collection:
Tous Les Matins du Monde / The Count of Monte Cristo / Changing Times - Three classics starring Dépardieu.

Horseman on the roof – Italian revolutionary finds himself in France during the 1832 cholera epidemic.

Inch' Allah dimanche – Algerian immigrants try to adjust to life in France.

Jean de Florette/Manon of the Spring - Greedy farmer robs a family of its water rights. Original film and sequel sold together.
Karmen Gei,– Story of Carmen, in an African setting. In French and Wolof.

Keita: the Heritage of the Griot, - 13th century African Sundjata Epic brought to the screen. In French and Jula.

Marius et Jeanette – Two unlikely lovers hit it off in a romantic comedy.

Molière – Film based on the life and plays of Moliére.

Monsieur Klein – Art dealer named Klein in the Vichy region of France gets confused with a Jew with the same name.

My Father’s Glory – Son’s relationship with his school teacher father.

My Mother’s Castle - Companion piece, and sequel, to above film.

Queen Margot – Marguerite de Valois, 1st wife of Henri IV, faces political intrigues at the 16th century French court.

Ressources Humaines – Young business student gets an internship at the factory where his father works.

Ridicule – Courtiers play cruel word games at the doomed court of Louis 16th.

Le Samourai – Lonely hit man performs his last hit.

La Vie en Rose – Biopic on life and career of singer Edith Piaf.



Spanish

Bad Education – Two boys in a parochial school fall in love, only to be thwarted by a pedophile priest.

Cabeza de Vaca – Mexican film about the adventures of the famous explorer.

Camila – Classic Argentine film about a priest and his lover in 1847 Argentina.

Cronos – Mysterious object found in a pawnshop grants immortality…and a thirst for blood.

The Devil’s Backbone – Orphans survive the Spanish Civil War with the help of kindly ghosts in 1939 Spain.

I, the Worst of All – Sor Juana Inez de la Cruz battles the Inquisition in 17th entury Mexico.

The Motorcycle Diaries - Che Guevara explores South America on a beat up motorcycle.

The Orphanage – Child is kidnapped under very mysterious circumstances.

The Other Conquest - Hernan Cortes conquers Mexico.

The Sea Inside- True story of Ramón Sampedro, a quadriplegic who wished to end his life after a diving accident.

Viridiana – Confused Catholic novice opens her family home to paupers with disastrous results.

What Have I Done to Deserve This? – Neurotic housewife and her troubled family.





International films in other languages:

African

Guimba the Tyrant – Evil African tyrant overthrown by his own people. In Bambara and Peul.


Danish & French

Babette’s Feast - Two aging preacher’s daughters sacrifice their chance at love and marriage to care for others.


Italian Opera

The La Scala Opera Collection:
Adriana Lecouvreur, Lucia di Lammermoor, Cosi fan Tutte, Don Giovanni, Lo Frate 'Nnamorato, La Fanciulla del West, La Donna del Lago, William Tell, Attila, I Due Foscari, I Vespri Siciliani


Polyglot

Babel- Shooting in Morocco has repercussions in Japan, Mexico and the United States.


Portuguese

City of God – Gangs erupt in a Brazilian favela.

John Edgar Tidwell presents the “Gordon Parks’ Learning Tree Experience”

“Gordon Parks’ Learning Tree Experience”

To be presented by:

John Edgar Tidwell, PhD
Professor of English, KU

Thursday, February 19, 2009, 4PM
Crimson & Gold Ballroom, Overman Student Center, PSU
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Dr. John Edgar Tidwell, who has been a professor at the University of Kansas since 1993 specializing in African American authors, will deliver his lecture “Gordon Parks’ Learning Tree Experience” in the Crimson and Gold Ballroom in the Overman Student Center, Pittsburg State University on Thursday, February 19th at 4PM.

The talk will discuss Gordon Parks’ autobiographical novel The Learning Tree (1963) and the film, shot on location in Fort Scott in 1968, which Parks made based on this novel. This talk is in honor of African American History month and will be jointly sponsored by the PSU Tilford Group, The Friends of the Leonard H. Axe Library, and the Kansas Humanities Council. All members of the public as well as the PSU Community are invited and refreshments will be served.

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~ Axe Digital Collection: Gordon Parks ~

Gordon Parks is an awe inspiring figure. He grew up in segregated Fort Scott, Kansas, the youngest of 15 children, lost his wonderful mother at age 15 and was sent by his father to live with his married sister in St. Paul, MN. In a matter of weeks his brother-in-law threw him out and he found himself homeless, out of school and working numerous odd jobs to support himself. Not exactly a recipe for success. But Gordon always remembered his mother’s advice to never use his color as an excuse for failure. And from this time until his death in New York at age 93, he never stopped working, finding success and distinction in several different careers.

He has often been called a Renaissance man, who started out by working a variety of odd jobs, including a porter, piano player, singer, waiter, semi-pro basketball player and laborer for the Civilian Conservation Corps. His professional career as a photographer started out when he read magazines discarded on the trains he worked on as a porter.

His new career took off after he bought his first camera in a Seattle pawn shop. Starting out as a portrait artist, he branched into fashion photography, including celebrity and high society work as well as controversial photo essays of slum life in Chicago, New York, and other major cities. He worked for high end fashion magazines (Vogue), popular pictorial magazines (Life), for the United States Government (the Farm Security Administration and the Office of War Information), and for Standard Oil of New Jersey. He also did free lance work.

But he wasn’t content to be just a photographer. He became a composer (he didn’t have time to learn conventional music notation, so he invented one of his own.), editor (He helped found Essence magazine and was its editorial director from 1970 to 1973.), writer, choreographer (a ballet based on the life of Martin Luther King, for which he also composed the music), filmmaker (The Learning Tree, Shaft), etc. And when he undertook a new profession, such as writing, he attacked it in his same Renaissance man style, becoming not only a novelist, but a poet, memoirist, journalist, screenwriter and technical writer (two practical manuals on photography)

He attacked the profession of filmmaking with the same gusto and enthusiasm. In 1963, Gordon had written a very sensitive novel about his Kansas boyhood, The Learning Tree. In 1968, he shot the film on location in his home town of Fort Scott, KS. He then contributed to the very popular “blaxploitation” genre with the films Shaft, Shaft’s Big Score and Supercops in the early seventies. He then made the biopic Leadbelly, which was a commercial failure due to distribution problems. After this, he retired from Hollywood filmmaking and made films for television (The Ordeal of Solomon Northrup, 1984) as well as pursuing his usual activities writing fiction, poetry and exhibiting his stunning photographs.

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The PSU Tilford Group